Freezer paper & bleach

You’ve probably already seen this ALL over the internet, so I’m not going to do a detailed tutorial. I am, however, going to tell you what worked for us and what I learned along the way.

One of Macy’s BFF’s has a birthday coming up. We wanted to make her something unique. (Side note: Kristine, don’t let Ashlie read this!)

First we found a font we liked and typed out what we wanted the shirt to say. I printed it, enlarged to our desired size.

Macy traced it onto the non-waxy side of the freezer paper and then I cut it out with an Exacto knife.

I ironed it on to the shirt. Don’t move the iron side to side, you’ll catch small details and rip/remove them.

I put a piece of cardboard inside and put the whole thing on an old towel. I folded the bottom of the towel up over the bottom of the shirt so we wouldn’t have any incidents with wayward bleach.

I made a 50/50 bleach and water mixture and put it in an old hairspray bottle. I misted the stenciled area. It didn’t do much, so I dumped it out and put straight bleach in the bottle and then misted it again. Go with the straight bleach. You’ll be able to get away with a lighter coat and have much less chance of it bleeding.

Then, after the letters were noticeably lighter than the shirt, I stretched it open and had Macy yank the cardboard out quickly. I immediately shoved the whole shirt (freezer paper still attached) into a sink full of OxiClean water. I’m not sure if this step is actually necessary, but we did it. The OxiClean is supposed to neutralize the bleach. Or maybe it just makes an explosion….whatever…worked for us.

I peeled off the paper and rinsed the shirt out well and then threw it in the washer for a regular wash.

well, you know i love me some freezer paper and some bleach – but i've never put them together. i was thinking of trying that with the bleach pen.i am thinking that the oxi clean isn't necessary – with the bleach pen i just rinse it carefully in water and then throw it in the washer.way cute!

I wish you could buy a smaller roll of freezer paper. The grocery store I was in only had this HUGE roll, meaning I'd have to do it again and again and again BTW, I saw one tut. where they put a piece of freezer paper behind the shirt and ironed that on, to protect the back of the shirt. I once used contact paper to do a stencil (wish I'd know about freezer paper then) and did the way you did with the cardboard. If I ever do it again, I will iron freezer paper on back instead.Thanks.

I heard once, that using vinegar on the bleach will neutralize it and keep it from continuing. This turned out awesome! I have my freezer paper which I use all the time to protect my counter when doing paint & Mod Podge projects.

I second the use of vinegar to neutralize the bleach. We used it in our college costume shop & I've used it at home many times, works really well. You do have to wash w/ detergent afterward to remove the odor.

I'd seen the freezer paper for paint before, but not bleach, how cool.

I second the use of vinegar to neutralize the bleach. We used it in our college costume shop & I've used it at home many times, works really well. You do have to wash w/ detergent afterward to remove the odor.

I'd seen the freezer paper for paint before, but not bleach, how cool.

I have done the same thing using "soft scrub with bleach". I just dabbed it over the stencil. It was easier than using regular bleach beacause it's thicker, more like a paste. I was afraid the bleach would run and get onto an area of the clothing that I didn't want it to. Yours turned out great though!

so cute! We needed "Peace Day" shirts for my kids and I took old t-shirts, stuffed with cardboard and used a q-tip dipped in bleach to write on them (Peace, symbols, etc.) and the q tip worked awesome.

Oops. I didn't pay enough attention to the part about misting the straight bleach on. I read "dumped" and went with it. So, I rolled it on with my very-full-of-bleach foam roller. It got all under my design. Luckily it stayed within the outer square I was making. I will now do the fabric paint in my bleached square. I WILL be trying with bleach again.

Connect with Me!

Sponsor Love

Search This Blog

Followers

Terms of Use

Feel free to link to or feature (no more than one image, please) any tutorials on this site, as long as credit is given. Tutorials are for personal (non-commercial) use only. For more information, see the details of my copyright way down at the bottom of the page!